


Rewrite the Stars

by TheAllRealNumbersSymbol



Category: Emergency! (TV 1972), Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magika | Puella Magi Madoka Magica
Genre: Backstory, Character Death, Gen, Magical Girls, Original Character Death(s)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-24
Updated: 2020-06-24
Packaged: 2021-03-04 02:53:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,344
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24886390
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheAllRealNumbersSymbol/pseuds/TheAllRealNumbersSymbol
Summary: Los Angeles, 197X. A mysterious call for Squad 51 leads Johnny and Roy to a victim who died of no injuries and a young woman with a mysterious connection to Captain Stanley.Mitakihara, 201X. Madoka Kaname learns the truth of magical girls and decides to end all of their suffering, and not a moment too soon to prevent a tragedy in Los Angeles.
Kudos: 4





	Rewrite the Stars

**Author's Note:**

> No, I have not forgotten Our Eyes Fixed on the Stars. I have been busy IRL, but this story occurred to me the other day and would not leave. Thusly I was forced to hand it an eviction notice by writing it down. Hopefully now I can get back to my real-world deadlines. :/
> 
> Scenes from the anime are included, but not word-for-word, to show how the two timelines are progressing along together. 
> 
> Anyway, please excuse any massive continuity errors on the Emergency side and I'll explain a little more of my history with this show at the bottom.

_Los Angeles, 197X_

Of all the calls Squad 51 had responded to, this was one of the most perplexing.

The teenage girl lying on the sidewalk had no apparent injuries, but she was most definitely dead. She had been dead when 51 had rolled up. The woman who had called it in was a retired nurse and she had stayed to start CPR. But it had been no use.

"Maybe it was poison," Johnny offered. 

"She's got no ID," Roy pointed out. "And even if she was poisoned, why would she be here?"

There was no good explanation.

Engine 51 pulled up behind the Squad and Chet and the Captain got out of the vehicle. The Captain looked perturbed. "What happened?"

"No idea, Cap," Roy said. "No apparent cause of injury. The lady who called it in had medical training and was doing CPR when we got here. But this girl is gone."

The Captain picked up the girl's hand, and then Roy realized that he was looking at a silver ring with a broken gemstone in it. 

Johnny was looking at something else in the bushes. "I think I'm seein' things," he muttered.

Roy glanced over at him. "What?"

"Look," Johnny asked, nodding at the bushes on the other side of the road, lining the sidewalk. 

Roy studied the bushes and shook his head. "I don't see anything."

Captain Stanley was looking now. He swore. "Not that thing again," he ground out between his teeth.

"You see it?" Johnny asked.

"What are the pair of you seeing?" Roy wanted to know.

The Captain turned to face him, but a new figure approaching had attracted his attention. "Leah. I am very glad to see you."

"Wish I could say the same," a woman replied.

(-)

_Mitakihara, 201X_

"This won't take long," Mami announced, toppling the tall chair the witch had landed on and sending it to the ground. She shot it again and again. Madoka watched, excited. This was it. This was what it was to be a magical girl. Fighting witches, saving people, being helpful, being useful.

And then the tiny toy-doll witch suddenly became a long worm- like thing with a mouthful of sharp teeth.

It swooped down towards Mami, and Madoka felt her joy turn to horror.

(-)

_Los Angeles, 197X_

The young woman who came walking towards them wore a white tunic top that stopped mid thigh. It had baggy sleeves and a wide inverted triangle of embellishment, as well as more silver braiding around the wrists, and an opening in the embellishment showed a pendant, a gold stone attached to the top of a larger circle. She wore metallic gold tights and white go-go boots. Wide gold bracelets were on each wrist, and a gold bangle circled her left ankle over the boot.Her eyes were brown, and her long, dark blonde hair was tied back at the nape of her neck. Two long straight strands framed her face.

"Why is that thing here?" The Captain sounded testier then either paramedic had ever heard before. He pointed over his shoulder, but the white thing that had been there was gone.

"Kyubey?" Leah asked.

The Captain nodded grimly. He stood up. "Let's talk." 

"We should," Leah agreed, and they walked off a little ways away.

The ambulance pulled up. They hadn't hurried. Johnny and Roy stood back as the attendants loaded up the victim’s body and drove away. The Captain and Leah were still talking.

Roy turned to Johnny. "What did you see?"

"I'm not sure," Johnny admitted. "It looked kind of like a mink, but the ears were wrong and the eyes were red. Did you see it?"

Roy shook his head. 

Chet came over to join them. He looked at Leah, and grinned at Johnny. "She's a looker."

Johnny nodded. "I don't think she's a girl who's into mustaches, though.”

"You never know," Chet replied. "Those tights don't hurt her figure at all."

Captain Stanley and Leah were coming back. Neither of them looked pleased. The Captain nodded at Chet. "Let's pack it in here." Chet looked disappointed at that and gave Leah another once over before he left.

"Captain, what was that white animal?" Johnny blurted out. Leah looked startled and glanced at Stanley.

"He saw it too!?" She demanded. 

"Saw what?" Johnny asked.

Stanley looked at Leah. "Well?"

She shook her head. "I don't know."

Stanley turned back to them. "Never mind what it was. If you see it again, I expect you to let me know," he told Johnny. Then he looked at Roy. "DeSoto, swing by the Three Rivers building on the way back to the station and drop Miss Taylor off."

"You don't have to do that," Leah protested. "I don't want to be accused of wasting fire department resources!"

"Oh, it will be our pleasure to take you home," Johnny rushed to assure her.

"Calm down, Casanova," Roy muttered.

"Let them take you home, please," Stanley said. "I know you can watch out for yourself, but I'll feel better." Leah nodded, reluctant.

"Let me change first," she said, and moved off through the bushes.

"I'll see you two back at the station," Stanley said, moving off to the truck.

Leah was back then, in a tube top and bell bottoms. Her hair was still tied back into a ponytail, but it was higher on her head then it had been before. Her nails were painted pink. A handheld radio transmitter was clipped to her belt. And Johnny noticed that on the middle finger of her left hand, she too wore a band ring, this one with a gold stone in it.

(-)

_Mitakihara, 201X_

The witch continued to devour Mami's fallen body. Madoka and Sayaka clung to each other, frozen with horror. 

Kyubey was demanding that they make a contract. Surely they had too. The witch had seen them. It was coming for them. 

Then a new voice. "That won't be necessary." And Homura was there.

When the witch was defeated, Madoka, still numb with shock, heard her say, "never forget what happened here. This is what it means to be a magical girl."

But that couldn't be, Madoka thought.

That would be too horrible to comprehend.

This was too horrible to comprehend.

(-)

_Los Angeles, 197X_

The drive to Three Rivers was largely quiet. Johnny has been doing his best to engage Leah, who was sitting between them, in a conversation, but she had shut down all of his attempts.

Finally he asked, "were you in the same group that that girl back there was in?"

Leah started at that. "What do you mean?"

"You're wearing the same kind of ring she was, on the same finger and everything. Were you in the same sorority as her or somethin'?"

Leah considered the question and nodded. "That's... that's true. We were in the same sorority. But I never met that girl before today."

"How'd you know she was in trouble and you needed to come looking for her?" Roy asked.

"I was tipped off," Leah replied. "But it was too late when I got there too."

“You, uh… you into radios?” Johnny asked. “I see you got a transmitter there.”

“I’m a ham,” Leah replied shortly. “I have people I like to keep in touch with.”

“Yeah? What’s your callsign?” Johnny asked. 

“K6OIB.”

“What band?” Roy asked. 

“Mm...two meter, mostly,” Leah replied.

The building looked up in front of them then. "This is far enough, she said. You can stop here."

Roy pulled the truck over. Johnny had to get out to let her out. "Sure you don't want an escort to your apartment?" He offered.

"Thank you for your... chivalrous gesture, but I'll be fine," Leah replied. Thanks for the ride home." She turned and began to walk away.

“Hey one more question!" Johnny called after her. She turned to look back at him. "How'd you change clothes so quick back there?"

"Sorority secret," she called back, and turned and started towards the front door of the building.

(-)

_Mitakihara, 201X_

She couldn't allow Sayaka to fight Kyoko. At the last minute, a thought occurred to Madoka. She snatched the Soul Gem from Sayaka's hand. "Sayaka! I'm sorry!" And she threw it over the bridge. Even Sayaka would not fight unarmed.

But Sayaka slumped forward then, and Madoka realized that something else was wrong. 

“I never thought you’d throw your friend off the bridge,” Kyubey said, walking along the railing on the bridge. 

“She’s dead, isn’t she?” Kyoko demanded. 

But Sayaka couldn’t be dead. It was just her Soul Gem. It was just a silly trinket, like all the other trinkets in every anime that Madoka would watch. 

And then she heard Kyubey explain how Sayaka’s Soul Gem was literally her soul. 

How had she ever considered becoming this? How could she have dreamed of becoming this? Madoka asked herself as she sobbed over Sayaka’s body. How could she have accidentally killed her friend?

And then Homura, the fixer of all problems, it seemed, came back with Sayaka’s Soul Gem. As soon as the blue stone was back, Sayaka opened her eyes. 

First Mami died, then Sayaka nearly died. It was all too much.

(-)

_Ventura County, CA, 197X_

Witches’ Labyrinths were universally ugly and surreal, and this one was no exception. Leah swung her trident through another set of minions, and then the witch was in front of her. “Mesocyclone!” 

It was gone, and the labyrinth dissolved a moment later. 

There was a Grief Seed left, and Leah picked it up and held it to the stone on her neck. The darkness in it was sucked into the gem. 

“You wouldn’t have to travel so far if you had been more careful with your wish,” she heard Kyubey behind her, and turned slightly to see him. 

“My wish was intentional. I know what I was doing,” she said coolly as she threw the used Grief Seed at him. After so many years, she had learned to keep her emotions in check. It was easier on the Soul Gem, at least she thought it was. Kyubey caught it and consumed it. Leah transformed back to normal, and the tunic was gone, replaced by her bell bottoms and high heel shoes. She glanced at the watch hanging on a chain around her neck. There was plenty of time for her to get back to LA County for her meeting with Captain Stanley before her first class. She sighed. This was not a conversation she was looking forward to having.

(-)

_Mitakihara, 201X_

“It’s true!” Sayaka cried, beating the witch down under her sword. “If you want, you really don’t have to feel pain anymore!”

It was hard to tell what was more disturbing: the actual attack on the witch, or the way Sayaka was laughing while she was fighting it. 

And even though she was sure that Sayaka couldn’t hear her, Madoka couldn’t help but say, “Stop. Please...stop.”

But this was only a foreshadowing of things to come, as a couple of days later, Sayaka was the witch. 

And the horrible, terrible truth of what a Soul Gem was could no longer be hidden, not even by Kyubey.

(-)

_Los Angeles, 197X_

“Looks like we beat the engine back,” Johnny said as Roy finished backing the squad into its place in the garage. 

“Seems like it,” Roy replied as they exited the vehicle. It had been a strange call. The Captain had stayed behind, deputizing Mike to take command for him and citing a meeting he had that afternoon. 

They were walking towards the door into the firehouse when Hank came out followed by Leah. Neither looked happy. Leah had just finished speaking. “...all I can do about it. I’m at the limit of my abilities as it is.”

“We’re in trouble then.” Hank replied. 

“Now who’s preaching to the choir?” Leah asked. Then they noticed the paramedics standing there. 

“Everything alright?” Roy asked. 

“It’s fine,” Hank assured him. But his and Leah’s body language said it was anything but that. Both stood with their arms crossed over their chests. 

“I should go,” Leah said. “If I leave now, I’ll make it back to campus in time for health class.”

“You know, I can give you a lift if you need one,” Johnny offered quickly. “You don’t want to miss health class. It’s pretty important. I like to get a lot of exercise myself.”

“Oh, is that for your job, or just because?” Leah asked, turning to face him. “I drove myself, so I don’t need a ride, but thanks,” Leah said, turning back towards the door. “Anyway, I don’t have time to date.”

“You sure? I mean, we could catch a movie tonight. Something low-key,” Johnny offered. 

“I’m busy tonight.” Leah told him. 

“Washing your hair?” Roy suggested.

“Painting my nails,” Leah said, holding up nails that looked pretty well painted already.

“You’re pretty busy with your sorority, too,” Hank offered. He still seemed upset by something but there was no real reason for that the paramedics could see.

“What do you do in your sorority?” Johnny asked. 

“Oh, the usual stuff. Help the less fortunate. Fight back against littering. Take a vow of chastity.”

“A vow of what now?” Johnny asked. 

Leah looked at her watch. “I really have to go now. Hank…?”

Hank nodded. Leah ran out the door and was gone. The Captain turned to walk back into the building. 

“Does this have something to do with that white mink?” Johnny asked. 

Hank swung back around to face him. “If you ever see that thing around here, I expect to hear about it immediately. Understand?”

Johnny nodded mutely. “Captain, how do you know Miss Taylor?” Roy asked. 

“She’s an...old friend of the family.” Hank swung around and walked back into the building. 

“Something isn’t right here,” Roy muttered. 

“Oh, you noticed too?” Johnny asked. 

“That girl we responded to the other day, she’s too young to be in a college sorority. So how could she and Miss Taylor be in the same one?” Roy asked. 

Johnny considered it. “Do you think that she really did take a vow of chastity?”

(-)

_Mitakihara, 201X_

It wasn’t until Kyubey showed her the history of magical girls that Madoka realized the depths of what had happened. “They all trusted you, and you betrayed them?”

“It wasn’t us that did that, but their own prayers. ...Anything that doesn’t match reality is bound to create a distortion. So why is it surprising that things should have such an outcome?”

All Madoka could do was sit there, tears streaming, as she realized the full horror of everything that had happened to Mami, and Sayaka, and Kyoko, and was about to happen to Homura. 

And then Walpurgisnacht was upon. 

It was too soon, Madoka thought. Too soon after everything that had happened. Mami and Kyoko should have been there to help Homura. They would have been good at it. They would have known what to do about it. 

But they were gone now, and Sayaka was gone too. 

And only Madoka knew what was going on.

But sitting in the emergency shelter, she knew what she would do about it.

(-)

_Los Angeles, 197X_

It should have just been a normal call. It sounded like a normal call when it came in. 

The young man who met them was frantic. “It’s my girlfriend. She was upset and crying and I was trying to calm her down, but then she just stopped moving altogether.” I had to leave her to find a phone and call for help.”

“Has she had any prior history of something like this happening?” Roy asked as the paramedics followed the young man through the maze of trees in the park. 

“Never,” the man replied. 

“How long have you been together?” Roy asked. 

“About two years now,” the young man replied. 

The young woman was sitting on a park bench. She was staring off into the distance. Some curious bystanders were there, looking on. 

“Lucy!” The young man called, but she didn’t look at him or respond. 

“Lucy,” Roy asked. “Can you hear me? We’re here to help you.”

There was no response. “Let’s get some vitals,” Roy decided, and Johnny set down the drug box and opened it. 

Lucy opened her hand then, and they saw something that looked like a blue egg framed with gold in her hand. But there was something dark moving inside of it. 

And then there was an explosion, the shock wave of which sent them all flying. 

When Roy opened his eyes again, the only thing that occurred to him was that this had to be a dream. There was no way it could be real.

The world around them was a swirling mix of blue and green. Ornate bird cages lined the place, stretched out as far as the eye could see. Things that looked like grape leaves were slapping like butterflies in the air around them. 

Johnny had landed on top of Roy. His eyes were closed and he was still. “Johnny. Johnny!” The other paramedic’s eyes opened. “Wha...Where are we?”

“I wish I knew,” Roy muttered, rolling Johnny off of him and sitting up. “You hurt?”

Johnny shook his head, looking around. “What, did we fall into Wonderland or somethin’?”

“Or something,” Roy repeated quietly. 

The grape leaves or whatever they were, noticed them suddenly and lunged towards them.

(-)

It wasn’t really possible to just up and lose a couple of paramedics, was it?

It just couldn’t happen. 

Captain Hank Stanley looked around the park. The Squad was parked nearby but no one was there. 

“No sign of them, Captain,” Marco reported. 

“Spread out and keep looking,” Hank ordered. He bit his lip and looked around. 

There was magic here. He could feel it, and it made him sick. He had always hated magic. He could remember Amelia and the look on her face when she had held her Soul Gem up to him and excitedly told him what she had done, and he had known it was a bad thing, even then. This couldn’t be. 

He looked at the park again. “I thought your wish would stop this, Leah,” he muttered. He looked around. The other firefighters had spread out and were further and further away, canvassing for Gage and DeSoto. Hank bit his lip and considered his choices again. He was out of his league here and he knew it. 

He walked back to the engine and pulled out his own private radio transmitter. He turned it on and checked. It was on the two meter band. Now the question was, at this time of the evening, was Leah listening to the bands?

“K6GJY calling K6OIB. K6GJY calling K6OIB. K6OIB, do you copy?” The static of the band was more deafening the silence the night Amelia had died. I should never have let them get mixed up in this. “K6GJY calling K6OIB. K6GJY calling K6OIB. K6OIB, do you copy?”

After two agonizing minutes, the radio crackled. “QSL, K6GJY. THis is K6OIB standing by.”

“K6OIB, an alert for the Taylor Institute.” It was a code they had agreed on a long time ago. “An albino mink spotted.” Hank gave the location of the park.

“QRT, K6GJY,” Leah responded. “K6OIB en route. K6OIB signing off.”

“QSL,” Hank replied, more relieved than he cared to admit. “K6GJY signing off.”

It didn’t take Leah long to arrive, but it still felt like too long to him. “What is it?”

“I lost two paramedics in a Witch's Labyrinth,” Hank said shortly. “I would like them back, and preferably in one piece.”

She snorted. “One of them has probably already been kissed by the Witch. The other probably thinks that he’s on a bad acid trip.”

“My men don't do drugs,” Hank told her. 

They walked towards the center of the park. “There it is,” Leah said, looking at the swirling symbol that had appeared for her.

Hank looked at her. “Can you get ‘em back, Leah?”

She sighed. “I can sure try.” And she walked towards the symbol.

(-)

_Mitakihara, 201X_

“Now, Madoka,” Kyubey was on the cusp of victory, even amid the carnage of Mitakihara caused by Walpurgisnacht, and his tone said he knew it. “What is the wish you will pay for with your soul?”

“I wish…” Madoka paused and took a deep breath. “I wish to erase all witches before they are born, all the witches in the universes, past and future, with my own hands.”

Kyubey claimed to not understand emotions, but even he seemed shocked as they stood in the rubble of the damage Walpurgisnacht had already caused. “Do you truly intend to become a god?”

“I don’t care what I become,” Madoka assured him. “All those who fought against Witches, who believed in hope as Magical Girls, I don’t want to see them cry. ...That is my wish. Now! Grant my wish, Incubator!

And there was nothing Kyubey could do but grant it.

(-)

_Los Angeles, 197X_

“Roy, there are people here!” Leave it to Johnny to find victims while monsters were bearing down on them. Roy looked and realized that these were the people who had been in the park before the explosion happened. 

But the monsters were still coming towards them. 

“I can’t get a response,” Johnny said. “I do have a pulse.” This was only the first victim. There were others. “No pupil reaction,” Johnny reported. 

“Uhh, Junior, we got another problem here,” the monsters or whatever they were were getting closer all the time. 

Three tridents impacted the monsters, pinning them to the ground. They dissipated as the tridents impacted them. Another larger monster was still coming towards them. 

Leah was falling down towards them. As she fell she summoned a larger trident into her hand and threw it. It impacted the monster and it vanished, leaving the four tridents embedded in the floor. She landed in a crouch, one hand braced on the floor. 

“What is this?” Roy demanded. 

“Nightmare,” Leah said. 

“One heck of a nightmare,” Johnny replied angrily. “Wanna tell us the truth?”

“You fell into a Witch’s Labyrinth,” Leah replied, pulling two tridents out of the ground. She started to spin them, one in each hand, and let another wave of the smaller monsters self-destruct on her weapons. Two larger monsters that followed the smaller ones were impaled. A larger wave of the monsters were coming now. Leah opened her hand, and another thing that looked like a gold-rimmed egg was in her hands. She held it up, and it started to glow. This time, there was something like a glowing wall that appeared and the monsters impacted it. The gold energy that washed back over Leah left her in the same tunic dress that she had worn the first day that they met. 

“We fell into a what?” Roy asked. 

“Witch’s Labyrinth.” She said, slamming the gold egg against her chest. It formed into the pendant she had worn the first time they had seen her. 

“This your sorority?” Johnny asked. 

“Hank can explain that one to you later. And if he says he can’t, tell him Leah said for him to explain.” She turned to face forward. 

“How do we get out of here?” Roy asked. 

“You can’t, until the witch is defeated,” Leah said. 

“How do we get them out of here?” Johnny asked, indicating the victims. “And what’s wrong with them?”

“Roll him over,” Leah said, nodding at the first victim. Johnny did so. “Pull his collar down.” Leah waited as he did so. “That mark on his neck is a Witch’s Kiss. The victims won’t wake up until the witch is defeated.” Another monster was coming up behind her, and Leah swung around and impaled it on the end of her trident. “Honestly, I thought that you both would have been kissed by now. Well,” she looked at Roy. “I thought it would have kissed you, at least.”

“Need some help?” Johnny asked. 

“You’ll just be in the way. Here,” she tossed him one of the tridents. “In case the monsters come back.”

She turned, braced herself on the ground and lunged forward, cutting through the monsters as they came towards her. 

“Your magic won’t last through this,” Kyubey was there, tail upright and moving back and forth in the air. 

“No one asked you!” Leah shouted at it angrily. She had used up some magic fighting some Familiars, Familiars which apparently belonged to this Witch, but she had to have enough magic to do this. How many people were back there? Had it been eight and the two paramedics? That seemed right. Ten people. A light supper for a witch. 

The birdcages that blocked her way rolled back suddenly, and something that looked like a tall church spire was there. It lashed out with two bat wings, pounding on the ground, trying to crush Leah. She ducked and darted out of the way, then stabbed the wings with her trident. 

“Some dream,” Johnny muttered as he whacked another monster down with the trident he’d been given. Roy was trying to get all the victims together in one place. There was still no way out that they could find. 

“Mesocyclone!” Leah called, and her attack of a supercharged trident, burning with magic, impacted the witch. The witch let out a shriek and the trident went flying back. Leah dissipated it and realized that Kyubey had right. There was no way to stop this without using much more magic. It was a gamble and she always hated it. If the witch dropped a Grief Seed, she would be fine. If it didn’t, this would be all for naught. 

There was nothing she could do but try it.

(-)

_Another Plane of Existence, 201X_

“My wish was to erase all witches. And if that prayer really comes true, then even I should have no reason to despair, ever!”

(-)

_Los Angeles, 197X_

Leah walked forward. “Mesocyclone!” This time, many tridents appeared, blades facing outward, spinning around her as fast as possible. The Familiars were drawn to her by the force of the wind around her and destroyed instantly on her supercharged weapons. Leah lifted into the air and flew forward to the Witch. She flung her hand at it and the witch was instantly assaulted by a barrage of tridents.

This time it worked. 

But the witch didn’t drop a Grief Seed. Leah bit her lip. This was not good. And the witch’s Familiars were still around. Even worse. They would have to be mopped up. 

And her Soul Gem was almost at its limit. She covered it with a hand as she made her way back to the paramedics. As she walked, she skewered the remaining Familiars with her tridents.

“You don’t look good,” Roy said as she approached. 

“I don’t feel good either,” she admitted. 

“Well, let us help you,” Johnny said. 

“You really want to?” She asked, voice shaking. She pulled off the pendant that was her Soul Gem and dropped it into his hand. It was almost completely black. “Crush that.”

Johnny looked stupefied. “Why?”

“Because,” Leah doubled over, clutching her throat. “Because if you don’t, I’ll be the Witch that eats you. Crush my Soul Gem so I don’t turn into a Witch next!” She was shaking. 

“If you don’t crush it completely, you’ll just break it,” Kyubey was back. “And if you break it, she turns into a Witch anyway.”

Johnny swung around to face the thing. “Hey now, you sound like you’re hoping I’ll mess it up,” he protested, and Roy was earnestly beginning to wonder if they both wouldn’t be on a 72 hour psych hold when this was all over.

“He is hoping you mess up,” Leah ground out. “Just do it already! Hurry!”

“How do I stop whatever’s happening to her?” Johnny asked Kyubey. Roy groaned. Whatever that thing was, it wasn’t Rampart, and it didn’t seem likely to help them. 

“There’s nothing you can do. And thanks to her wish, there are no other Magical Girls who will come to help.” Kyubey’s tail was still waving back and forth. “You should have thought your wish through more carefully. I wonder how many people you’ll kill before another Magical Girl shows up to stop you.”

“Bite me,” Leah spat. “You’ll never do this to anyone ever again, at least not here.” A hand was pressed to her chest. Her breathing was heavy, her face ashen. “Just smash it already!” She shouted at Johnny. “If you want to help, that’s how you do it!”

Johnny turned to Roy. “Did any of our equipment fall down here too?” He was hoping something was in there that could be used to shatter the gem. 

“If it did, I haven’t found it.” Roy told him Johnny. Kyubey hopped down and disappeared into the Labyrinth. He was no longer needed here. 

“Hurry!” Leah almost screamed. 

Johnny looked at the pendant. It was solid black.

“Allow me,” a new voice said, and a pair of hands gloved in white wrapped around Johnny's. He turned and saw another young woman, this one in white, with stars that showed under the train of her gown. Her long hair was pink and tied up in white bows. She cupped her hands around the pendant, and the darkness vanished from the stone, and then the stone itself disappeared. Leah dropped to the ground. Tears streamed down her cheeks as she went limp and her body disappeared. 

Ultimate Madoka turned to them. “Tell Hank Stanley that his sister is at peace.” Then she was gone, and so was the labyrinth. They were back in the park. 

“I’m glad to see you’re back in one piece,” Hank said behind them. He was sitting on a park bench. Moths were swarming around a nearby streetlight that shed light onto the park. 

“Cap, we’ve gotta call Rampart. These people need help,” Johnny said, indicating the victims. 

“Do they need it though?” Roy asked. The first victim’s Witch’s Kiss was gone when he checked. 

“They don’t,” Hank said. “They’ll be fine once they wake up.”

“How did you know what happened?” Roy asked. 

“I’ve seen a Witch’s Labyrinth before. My youngest sister made a deal with that demon Kyubey and I saw her become a witch,” Hank replied. 

“How did you call Leah here?” Johnny asked. 

Hank held up a radio transmitter. “I got on the 2 meter band. We had a code set up a long time ago in case something like this ever happened.”

“You’ve called her before,” Roy said. 

Hank nodded. “If I thought there was magic nearby, I did call her to come investigate. Sometimes there was, sometimes there wasn’t. But I always preferred it if she checked.” He stood up. “Let’s figure out what we’ll tell the others.”

(-)

_Los Angeles, 197X_

The cemetery was beautiful, and peaceful.

“I hate cemeteries,” Johnny muttered as he looked at the new, clean headstone in front of the patch of brown soil. 

“I know the feeling,” Hank said. Roy stood on his other side. The grave they were standing front of was empty. Leah’s body was still missing. Los Angeles had suffered another Earthquake that had destroyed the Three Rivers building a week after Leah had defeated the Witch. It had provided them the needed cover to have her declared dead, even without a body. There had been eight other casualties in the complex, which had been in the epicenter of the quake. 

Leah’s name, date of birth, and assigned date of death were listed on the granite marker, along with her ham radio call sign. Above the vital information was the circle inside a circle that had been her symbol as a Magical Girl. 

“My sister is buried here too,” Hank said. Hank drifted off in the direction of his sister’s grave. Roy followed, leaving Johnny to look at the grave. 

A new figure came walking up. She wore a white kimono embroidered with pink flower petals, and striped with pink around the bottom, with a thinner stripe of gold above the pink. Her wide obi was pink edged in gold. She held a paper parasol that was pink, with a stripe of white and gold around the edge. Her tabi were pink, and she wore wooden geta sandals. 

“You know,” Johnny turned to the newcomer. “The thing about what I do is I get trained for it. Equipped for it. Paid for it. But tell me, tell me, what exactly did she get for it?” he gestured at the grave. 

The woman in the white kimono turned to face him and he saw that he had guessed correctly. Her long pink hair was tied in white ribbons, and since there was no long train on her dress, the stars were on the inside of her parasol instead. “She was given a wish.”

“One wish, huh? Seems a little unfair. Maybe ten wishes would be fair, but not one.”

“Once upon a time, Kyubey was allowed to make contracts without telling girls what the outcome would be. Not too long ago, that was changed. And I know, because I changed it,” she said. 

“And..who are you?”

“Call me Gretchen,” Madoka replied. 

“Gretchen. Still doesn’t seem fair, if you ask me. Oh, I’m Johnny, by the way.”

She smiled as she shook his offered hand. “No one who makes a contract with Kyubey turns into a monster now, and he has to explain to them what the outcome of their wish will be.”

“So, uh, how did those two know each other?”

“Leah was friends with Hank’s youngest sister, Amelia,” Madoka explained. 

“So what did Leah wish for?”

Madoka turned and looked to her left. Johnny came over to stand next to her. 

“Are all of these places like this?” Johnny asked, looking around the latest Witch’s Labyrinth. 

“Yes,” Madoka said. “But nothing can happen to us here. This is a view of the past.”

Hank Stanley, maybe eighteen or nineteen, was clutching the body of a girl who looked similar to him. “Amelia! Amelia!” He shook her, but there was no response. 

Leah was there, maybe twelve, if that. She dropped a gold frame and shell onto her friend’s body. She was pale as a sheet. “The Familiars are coming,” she said. 

“Make a contract with me!” Kyubey was there too. 

Hank swung around to face it. “Give me back my sister!”

Leah’s eyes were dead. She shook her head, tried to say something, but the words wouldn’t come out. 

Monsters that looked like Wishing Wells with very human-like mouths pasted into permanent grins were hopping towards them. 

“Make a contract with me!” Kyubey repeated. “Hurry!”

“Don’t!” Hank shouted. “Leah, whatever you do, don’t do that!”

“Make a contract with me! If you don’t, you’ll both get eaten.”

With a cry of rage, Leah swung around to face Kyubey. “I wish that no one in Los Angeles could ever make a contract with you again!”

Kyubey seemed a little shocked. “With no new magical girls, you will have no one to rely on, and will fight completely alone, unless someone who has already made a contract come here.”

“I don’t care! You’ll never do this to anyone else here again! Now, grant my wish! **Incubator**!” The last word came out as a scream, and Leah was suddenly looking up as glowing gold orb appeared above her. She reached up, clasped both hands around it, and her fate was sealed. 

The scene shifted. The Witch’s Labyrinth was gone. Some time had passed. How much wasn’t clear. Hank set his sister’s body down. In one hand, he clutched the shattered remains of her Soul Gem. 

Leah, still pale, walked up next to him, and opened her hand. Her Soul Gem, with the symbol of the circle attached to the top of the larger circle, lay in her palm, glowing bright yellow. It glowed again, and became a ring, wrapped around the middle finger of her left hand. She looked at it, and noticed that the symbol on her Soul Gem was now imprinted in gold on her nail. She rubbed at it, but it didn’t go away. 

“Nail polish might cover it,” Hank offered. “I can get something for you.”

“There’s a frosted pink that I like a lot,” she whispered, still rubbing her finger. “Down at Luigi’s Drugstore.”

Hank nodded. “I’ll get it for you. Tomorrow. Let me...let me take Amelia home and tell ...tell Mom and Dad that Amelia’s…” he trailed off. “I won’t tell them how.”

“They wouldn’t believe you anyway,” Leah whispered. 

Hank nodded and picked up his sister’s body. 

The scene faded away and they were back in the cemetery. 

Johnny hooked his thumbs into his belt and looked at Madoka. “You know, I don’t think that twelve year olds should be allowed to make wishes to strange animals. Especially with consequences like that.”

Madoka nodded. “I would agree with that.” 

“Now I know why Cap wanted to know when that thing was around. What happens now?”

“Now? Now that I have erased all witches, Amelia and Leah are at peace.” She smiled at him. 

“Johnny?”

The pair turned to see Hank and Roy coming back towards them. “Oh, Cap! This is the lady who told me to tell you that your sister was at peace,” Johnny said, indicating Madoka. 

Hank seemed confused, but he nodded at her. “Ma’am.”

“You’re confused because you still remember. But the memory will fade, and eventually you won’t know that your sister was ever a witch, because she never was.”

Hank nodded slowly. “I’m glad to know that.”

“You were in the Witch’s Labyrinth,” Roy said. 

“I was,” Madoka smiled at them. “I need to get going. I have a lot to do. Lots of people to help.” She turned and walked away. Waiting for her were two ghostly figures. It was Leah and Amelia. Madoka walked between them, and as the firemen watched, they followed her into the light.

**Author's Note:**

> So I came across an Emergency fanfic the other day, and I do sometimes read fics for shows I've never heard of, but I thought, haven't I heard of this before? Yes, actually, I have. I did see reruns of this back when I was in high school because I had a family member who watched it! So that was weird. And I watched a few episodes online and then this story appeared in my head and I've been trying to make it go away ever since so I hope writing it down will do that. (The feeling you get when a oneshot shows up and won't go away :/ .)
> 
> Umm... what else? I manufactured a lot of backstory for Captain Stanley so I hope that doesn't conflict with anything in the show. I've probably taken a few liberties with how Leah and Stanley used Ham Radio. Please excuse those. 
> 
> There's no particular reason Johnny isn't affect by the Labyrinth, except he, like Stanley, just isn't. 
> 
> This got shoved into Like a Star because Ultimate Madoka shows up at the end to make everything right. 
> 
> Feedback is appreciated, but I'm kind of new here on the one side of this, so please be kind.
> 
> UPDATE 6/30/2020: So after I posted this I realized that it doesn't exactly fit the Like a Star mold so it's being tossed from the series.


End file.
